Hook, Line And Sinker: Behind The Scenes
by Nikohruchan
Summary: Running gags that are based on the story Hook, Line And Sinker.


**NOTE**: Before you read this, you must first read, _Hook, Line And Sinker _by yours truly, NumberThirteenXIII, for you to understand this. Also, this is from my point of view. Enjoy!

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><p>Behind The Scenes<p>

Hook, Line and Sinker

_Konan vs. Sasuke_

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><p>Aah, yes. A fine morning here in Pein's tower. We've just finished Itachi and Sakura's scene by the forest clearing, and here we are, lounging around in Pein's office. Konan, Sakura, and I were sitting side by side on his couch. Oh, and Pein didn't like us hanging there. Didn't like it at all.<p>

"Okay, seriously Pein, stop glaring. You're sending goosebumps up my skin." I reprimanded him.

If possible, he glared harder. "That was my intention."

"Pein!"

"…" He walked away and out the window. Probably to observe his village again. Overprotective bastard.

I turned to Konan. "Konan-chan, Pein is really stupid, huh?"

Thunder rumbled outside. I cringed.

"Sssh." Konan put a finger to her lips. "He can hear you. And yes he is." Thunder boomed again, this time even louder. "Okay! Enough of that Pein!" Konan shouted to the ceiling.

We all shook our heads. Men.

Sakura stretched her back and yawned. She lifted the script that was lying beside her on the couch and began to read.

"Hey, you almost read that ten times now." I smiled at her.

Sakura looked at me, "Well, it seems interesting! Besides, I get to play a better role. Good thing Masashi-san agreed to this."

I leaned back on the couch. "Oh well, people will be damned if the series will cease to air for a while. This will just be another Fic for everyone to engross with."

"Hopefully more readers will be captivated by your work." Konan showed the most graceful smile she could manage. She turned to Sakura. "So Sakura… Are you happy that this Fic is about you and your precious Uchiha?"

She said Sasuke's last name the way she would say the word, _slug. _Ooh, boy.

Sakura tried to hide her blush with her hair. "What? Of course I am! Why would you ask that?"

Her voice was fairly shrill. Poor Sakura. You can never truly hide your feelings. Konan raised an eyebrow. "I want to talk to this boy of yours."

"Boy? You mean Sasuke? He's not my boy!" Sakura defended.

I grinned. "Ooh. You're in denial!"

"I'm not!"

I grinned even wider. "Really? It does look like that to me from over here."

Sakura's eyes were blazing. "Cha! I said I'm not!"

I backed away. This girl could throw me out of the window, mind you.

Konan stood up. "Enough. Now, where could we find Uchiha?"

"Sasuke is in Konoha. He said his team will be informing Naruto of my arrival there tomorrow." I stated. I peered at Konan's face. She looked eager. Wait. Eager? About what?

Sakura grasped her arm. "Konan-san, you're not really serious are you? I mean, you can always talk to him tomorrow, if you like."

Konan faced her. "I want now. What's the point of not doing what you can do today?" She sounded delirious. She proceeded to the door, removing Sakura's hand from her arm.

I locked eyes with Sakura. We moved to the door simultaneously and followed the blue haired lady out.

We passed the rooms of the other Akatsuki members, some of which held their occupant. As we trudged down the winding stairs, we ran into Itachi. He didn't even look at us. The gorgeous bastard.

Now out the streets, I felt uncomfortable. Here were two skilled ninjas. I, a mere individual, could not do half the things they do. Therefore, I could not run as fast as they can, which we would probably be doing. I was nervous of asking our beloved ladies that, for I fear embarrassment.

"Konan-chan! Sakura-chan! Nikohru-chan!"

I felt saved just by hearing those words. "Tobi-kun!" I grinned wide.

Tobi looked at each of us. I guess that's what he did. "Where are you off to?"

"Were off to Konoha!" I accentuated the word _Konoha _to see if it would affect his jolly mood. Naughty me.

"Oh really?" His jovial voice dropped a bit. "Well then why didn't you say so? Wait for me, okay?"

Konan dissented. "Tobi, were in quite a hurry."

"Hurry?" Echoed Sakura.

Konan sighed. "Yes, hurry." Sakura looked at her and raised a brow, but didn't say anything.

"Oh, this will just be a sec." Before Konan could object more, Tobi scampered into the building. We heard grunts and bams on the upper floors, and vulgar shouting. After a few minutes, he strutted back out, behind him a fuming Deidara.

"You, idiot!" Deidara spat. "That was my last piece of Play-Doh!"

"Tobi!" a furious Hidan came out, covered in mysterious glowing symbols, his weapon ready and pointed at our very chaffy friend. "You will die!"

Tobi whimpered and hid behind Sakura.

Kakuzu appeared. Hey, I did not see him walk out of the doorway. "I told you a hundred times not to bother him in the middle of his rituals, Tobi."

"But I came to tell you something important!" Tobi reasoned. Hidan inched his weapon nearer at Tobi's masked face.

"More important than my rituals?" He asked in a deadly voice, as if daring Tobi to answer correctly up to his liking or he'll well, make him wish he wasn't even born… At least that's what I felt.

"You have to buy me a new Play-Doh!" Deidara urged, his tone rising again. Okay, so they don't have cars but they have Play-Doh… Weird.

"Oi, will you keep it down? You're disturbing me."

I looked up at the tower which was really not such a sight to see under the dark sky. The tower resembles a humanoid figure wearing a kimono, carrying a pipe with piercings, and its tongue stuck out. Pein often sat on the tongue looking out over the city. I noticed a draft of red hair at one of the small round windows, looking down at us. Did I mention I have poor eyesight? Yeah, I have myopia, and sadly I only wear my glasses whenever I read or write or watch, so I couldn't really see the expression on Sasori's face. But his tone clearly sounded annoyed.

"See? Finish it already Hidan, we're disturbing people." Kakuzu said, and moved near the doorway.

Tobi yelled enthusiastically, "Hey, Sasori-sama! Do you wanna come to Konoha? The girls here are going to have a trip there." He jumped at the last word, which was irritating if you know his real self. Hidan and Deidara turned back to him.

Tobi crouched behind Sakura, obviously attempting to belittle himself and get away from both Deidara and Hidan's glare range.

"Hey, come on guys. That's enough!" Sakura growled, temper rising, which was effective, really, since Tobi slowly strengthened and brush dirt off his cloak. When he spoke, it's not in his, felicitous voice, but rather, in his _real_ voice.

"I apologize, Haruno-san. It had become quite a habit of mine to talk in that voice." He moved a few steps away from us, his actions stating indifference.

Sakura sighed. And silence prevailed.

…

…

…

"So!" I breathed out, having had enough of this freaking silence and cold air enveloping us. "Are we still going?"

That shook Konan out of her stupor. She answered a yes in an unruffled voice.

"Going?" Deidara wondered.

"Yes, off to Konoha, remember?" I reminded him.

Deidara beamed. "Cool! Can I come? I want to taste this Ramen Naruto was talking to me about."

"Sure thing…I guess…" I looked at Konan and Sakura. They sighed and nodded.

Hidan lowered his weapon and fixed himself. The patterns on his flesh glowed once more and diminished. He swung the weapon over his left shoulder and grinned, like nothing happened. "Hey! I wanna come too!"

Thunder rumbled overhead.

"I'm guessing boss wants to come too?" Hidan offered. I smiled sheepishly, if I were to ask an embarrassing question to someone and not get laughed at, it would be Hidan-senpai. I moved closer to him and asked, "Are you guys going to travel the way you do?"

Hidan looked at me, confusion in his eyes, and then it dawned on him.

"Heh? Are you embarrassed?" He ruffled my hair. "We'll have a race, I'm sure you'll place last."

"Ha." So much for the laughed at situation not happening. Hidan put a hand to his hips. "Hey, anyone want to carry a puny girl?"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?" I shouted.

Hidan smirked. "Oh, yeah guys, how about a race?"

I fumed.

Hidan grinned mischievously at my seemingly obvious anger. "Are we going or not? Ne he, don't worry I'll carry you, shorty."

I rolled my eyes. I think this guy has an ego. "I don't really want that, but since you are ninjas…" I faltered.

And boy was it embarrassing! The journey to the Fire Country was fast. I mean really fast. Stupid Hidan-senpai carried me on his back and jumped from tree to tree, me wobbling on his back and cursing under my breath from time to time.

All the while Sakura tried to pry out of Konan what she really wants to talk to Sasuke about that she had to rush into the village so suddenly.

"I just want to talk to him. Is that illegal?" Konan responded in an accusing voice and she ignored Sakura all through the journey. At the sound of Sasuke's name, Itachi moodily asked if he could tag along. I'm guessing he's suspicious of what their female member might do to his precious little brother. However, when asked, "My little brother is a fool. He could rage easily."

Kakuzu didn't come, as he told us it was a waste of time. Tobi or _Madara, _was scathingly quiet, but he followed nonetheless.

Upon reaching the gates, I told Hidan to put me down. And boy, did my head spin! I am never going to do that again. Senpai steadied me, but gave me an irritating smirk. I gave him back a scowl. Entering the village, we saw Izumo and Kotetsu at a small shed on the left past the gates and they nodded their greetings. Hey, did I give those guys a part in my story? I'll check up on that when I get back.

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><p>Walking through the streets, I noticed we are headed on the direction of the Hokage tower, even though we have not spoken about it. The silence was overwhelming as we continue on our way. But I remembered something that is of sense to me.<p>

"Hey," I addressed the others and they all turned to look at me, "If we were to look for Sasuke," and at this I eyeballed Konan for verification and continued, "Then wouldn't he be with Naruto? Why are we heading to the Hokage's office?"

They stopped walking, and I could see from Sakura's face the hit. For one moment, she looked horrified and a blush was staining her cheeks, but quickly recovered and replied sheepishly, "But we need to go to Shishou's office. Every visitor must go there to state their purpose inside the village in case something came up." She fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

Pretty lame excuse, but hey, I bought it. The real reason I don't want to go to the Hokage Tower is because I'm hungry and I wanted to see Ichiraku so badly. So I told them I'd rather go to Ichiraku and maybe find Naruto there. Madara chose to stay with me to which he reasoned that children should never be left alone to wander and to which Itachi agreed too. I got annoyed by that, but suddenly thought that maybe Itachi really do wanna see his brother. I waved goodbye to the others while Itachi and Madara stood behind to stay and 'watch' me. Stupid grown-ups. When I turned around for some talk with them, Madara was 10 feet away from Itachi and was unmoving. Whereas Itachi was doing the same.

"Well… Uhm… Should we go straight to Ichiraku's then?" Neither man nodded, so I started to walk away when I noticed Itachi's expression. He was scrutinizing me and looking at me like he had never seen me before. Uh-oh. I quickly start to walk north and away from his stare.

"Where are you going?" I heard his dark voice speak. Major Uh-oh. What if—?

I nervously turned to face him, in fear that maybe he was already pointing a kunai at me. Masashi-san did say he used the temporary memory deletion jutsu. And mind you the word _temporary_ did nothing to assure me. "Y-yes?"

"The Ichiraku Ramen's this way." Itachi was pointing to his right.

"Oh! Yeah, sorry, I forgot." I brushed past him quickly and headed in that direction.

As we walked through the streets, I could plainly say the Hidden Village is very busy. The Fire country is full of forests and this village is situated near the center. It was like a tourist attraction. And hot too. The sun was high overhead and scorching me already. I looked at those cloaks the two mysterious guys behind me were wearing. They must feel like in hell. I snorted at the thought. The walk seems to go on and on while I try making conversation. Ever tried talking to tree trunk guys? Well, that's what I felt. Make that double.

"Uhm… Am I going the right way?" I glanced over Itachi since I won't be able to see Madara's precious face and he didn't even nod. HE just looked at me. I felt like an ass twice this day already. Could it get any worse? Where are you ramen? I shifted my head left and right, and walked faster north. Please, please, please…

And there! I can see Ichiraku. Finally! And I saw some orange? Hehe. Naruto.

I broke into a run and shouted his name, even when I was still a few meters away from the shop. "NARUTO!" People looked at me crazy, and some snidely commented on youths today. I made my way through them and into the shop, where Naruto was just placing his noodles into his mouth. At the sight of me, he quickly put the food in his mouth and gobbled quickly all in the spare time of 2 seconds.

When he swallowed, he broke into a grin. "Nikohru-chan!"

I gave him my biggest smile. And you know if you ever see Naruto in person, he'll be like the sun in the morning. Not too hot, not too cold, but _warm_. And it always brightens up your day. You can't help but smile. "What's up?"

"Oh the usual," He said before taking another bite. "Meateng Mamen mith Masuke."

While talking, bits of food splayed out of his mouth. At that he received a whack in the head, courtesy of Sasuke. And I looked at him twice. He's handsome, but his aura's a little different than Naruto. He's the setting sun. Not enough warmth already. And he had that same scowl his older brother adorns too. Figures.

"Ow! Sasuke! What'd you do that for?" Naruto retorted angrily while rubbing the back of his head.

"Dobe. You're spitting food on the table." Sasuke said, not even facing his teammate.

"Who are you calling Dobe? Teme!"

"Idiot."

"Moron."

"Wanna-be."

"Jerk!" Naruto was clutching his chopsticks so hard and glaring at Sasuke. "Pretty Boy!" He blurted out of desperation.

This time Sasuke spared him a sideways glance. "Jealous?" And he raised an eyebrow. Typical Sasuke.

"Why would I want to be pretty? So that Orochi-mama would come and bite me in the freaking neck?" Naruto turned his nose up in the air.

For a dead-last, Naruto had pretty good snide comments on his behalf. I had fun watching Sasuke's face or rather; eyes turned shocked, then frowned and scoffed.

"Pervert." He muttered.

"Who are you calling - "

And they're at it again. I had just sat down on a stool and waited for them to berate when Itachi and Madara entered the shop. The two immediately stopped their bickering.

Itachi looked from Naruto to his little brother. Madara folded his arms to his chest and muttered, "Itachi, you're little brother has been behaving badly. He's fighting with his playmate." He said in a mockingly high pitched voice. The _Tobi_ voice.

I scoffed. After Tobi and Itachi seated themselves on the counter and ordered ramen, (Well, Itachi did, Tobi just stood there and leaned on the wall… Naruto offered to pay for me) Sakura, Konan, and Hidan came into sight.

"Hey! How about one bowl here too?" Hidan took the seat on my right and leaned with his back on the counter and smirked at us. "So, how's it going?"

I locked eyes with Sakura, trying to tell about Naruto and Sasuke's petty fight that occurred just a while ago. She raised both eyebrows, then narrowed her eyes at her teammates.

Even with their backs facing her, they both distinctively flinched, and Naruto blabbered almost immediately. "It-it was Teme, Sakura-chan! He started it!"

"Dobe! Who started it?" Sasuke yelled at him.

Sakura whacked them both upright on the back of the head. "Don't fight when you're eating!" She scolded. Naruto rubbed his newly formed bump, and Sasuke acted as cool as possible after being walloped by a girl.

"Uchiha."

We all turn at the voice, and gazed at Konan. Oh, yeah I forgot about that. Her eyes were sizing Sasuke up, like a buyer would choose his fish on a market sale. All the while Sasuke's expression was as blank as ever.

"Fight me."

Sakura gaped. Itachi only inclined his head to glance sideways at her and Hidan swirled in his chair with eagerness in his face. Sasuke answered with a simple word, "No."

It was clear Konan was fighting back an angry retort, for her knuckles were balled into fists but she answered just as coolly, "And may I know why?"

Sasuke sighed and put down his chopsticks on the rim of his now empty bowl. "You are a girl."

"And so?" Konan's voice was demanding.

"What do you want? Spit it out." Sasuke's voice was already thick with annoyance, still not turning round to face Konan.

Konan smiled and folded her arms across her chest. "I want to know your worthy enough of a man to be in the receiving end of Sakura-chan's pure-hearted adoration."

Sakura's mouth went even lower. "P-pure-hearted… Adoration?"

What an embarrassing thing to hear. It's almost like Lee talking.

Sasuke, maybe already having had enough, turned, and faced her, a menacing smirk present on his face. "Challenging me?"

"Of course, what do you think?"

"Teme." Naruto warned.

"Dobe, shut up and watch." Sasuke said as he stood up. "Training grounds." He told Konan.

She already had come out of the shop. "Fine by me."

"Sasuke." Itachi addressed him.

Sasuke closed his eyes. "Hn." And followed his opponent out. The rest of us after.

Along the way though, we encountered Lee and Gai-sensei. And they both spell trouble.

"Ah! My youthful young fellow ninjas!" Gai began, striking up a signature pose. "How good to see you today!"

Sasuke brushed passed him. "Hn. Whatever."

Gai only smiled at Sasuke's lack of courtesy. "You know young man, I have great respect for the Uchiha clan. And I can say you're already a disappointment."

We all waited for Sasuke's reaction. He stopped halfway at Gai's words, his back stiff as a board at the mention of his family.

"Whatever." Expect Sasuke to be like himself always.

He continued walking. But Gai was not finished. "If you can prove to me that you are as skilled as you imply you are, then I might consider you worthy of that Uchiha crest on your back."

Bad move Gai-sensei.

Lee touched his sensei's shoulder. "Gai-sensei." He admonished.

Sasuke turned around viciously, his eyes full of hatred and anger. "Just who do you think you're talking to?"

Gai didn't answer. Lee moved forward in a dismal manner. "Sasuke-san—"

"What is going on here?" Shikamaru the Chuunin to the rescue! Haha. Pardon me. My thoughts here people.

I whipped my head to look at him and as usual stare at his spiky ponytail. It was situated so high…

Naruto answered, "Nothing Shikamaru! We're just getting acquainted here!"

Shikamaru looked at the scene in front of him. Taking in Sasuke's whirring bad mood, he looked at me distressingly and muttered, "Troublesome. Don't fight here. Too many people around. It'll be a drag if you cause a commotion in the middle of the street."

For a minute, neither spoke nor moved. Sasuke was still staring hard at Gai, Tobi and Itachi keeping silent, Hidan was scratching the back of his neck. Konan stood still, and Sakura was pouting and looking between Sasuke and Gai.

"Ah! I know! Shikamaru, doesn't Ino have a gameplay basement?" Naruto shamefaced asked, breaking the tense silence.

"Ah? Uh, yeah? She mentioned something like that. Why?"

"Teme, Konan-san, you can have your battle there." Naruto suggested. Konan and Sasuke gazed at each other for a second.

Sasuke pulled his incisive stare at the Jonin and slipped his hands into his pockets. "Hn."

"Where is this basement?" Konan asked.

Naruto grinned.

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><p>"Eh? But why?"<p>

We were standing outside Ino's flower shop, hearing every single word Ino was saying in reply to what Naruto was whispering to her. Shikamaru was only nodding in response.

"Whaaaaaaaat? Okay, okay, fine." Ino agreed and made to remove her apron. She hung it over a hook and shouted, "Mom! I'm going down at the basement! I have something to do."

She then picked a peony on one of the flower pails and rushed over to where I was standing outside the flower shop. "Here ya go, Niko-chan." Then bent over and whispered, " Sorry about this entire ruckus."

She straightened up and gave a huge smile. "Well, forehead?"

"Hey, Ino-pig." Sakura greeted back.

"Follow me guys." She told us, and we followed her to the back of the shop. She opened a sort of trapdoor that led somewhere down, which was way dark to see what's inside. We all stared at it.

"Uh… That's your basement?" I asked.

"Uh-huh." Ino replied. She took a flashlight from her ninja pouch and jumped down inside the trapdoor.

"Hey!" Naruto already jumped down as well as Shikamaru. Light flickered in there and Ino yelled, "You can come down now!"

I hesitated. Konan got in already and Sakura too. I continue staring at the passage.

"What are you waiting for? Scared? Niko-chan?" Hidan taunted. I turned to see the guys waiting for me to jump down like the other ladies did. Such gentlemen.

I blew a raspberry at Hidan-senpai and muttered, "I'm not scared , jerk."

"Hurry up, guys!" Sakura called from downstairs.

"Oh I forgot, our little writer is not a ninja! Therefore has no abilities whatsoever of—" Hidan was putting a finger on his chin.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm no ninja I get it, but I can be a wannabe y'know." And with that, I jumped down dauntlessly.

I landed on my own two feet surprisingly and took a look around.

There were dust here and there, and the room looked like it hadn't met cleaning in weeks. The boys came in soon after, and Hidan-senpai looked at me in a doting way.

We followed Ino into the back of the big room, which was occupied by lots of dispatched things and a few machines that I know have seen in a gaming shop. I thought we were going to look for a clearing where Sasuke and Konan could battle, but instead, Ino led us into a secluded corner, with a big sort of cabinet covered by a white cloth. Ino removed it, and it revealed a—.

"DDR?" Shikamaru wondered.

Ino reached down at the back of the machine, probably to plug it in. The DDR blared to life, its lights twinkling in the dimly lit room.

Ino punched a button and music boomed out sounding suspiciously of the song, 'Buttercup.' I think this would be FUN. Teehee.

"What is all this crap for?" Sasuke asked seemingly unable to hold his curiosity and irritation in.

Ino and Naruto looked meaningfully at each other, then turned to Shikamaru. He sighed and stared at the ceiling. "This is where you'll battle it out."

For a moment, Sasuke's face was void of expression. Then…

"What?" His voice deadly dangerous. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"What is going on here?" Konan asked too, confused with what Shikamaru declared.

Shikamaru sighed again, this time a lot more deeply. "I said you'll be fighting here. With this DDR."

Sasuke was going to answer back an angry remark when I suddenly blurted out of amusement, "Dance Dance Revolution? Are you serious?"

Sasuke looked at me, anger flashing in his eyes. I backed away.

"Where's Lee?" asked Sakura.

"Said something about calling someone." Naruto sat down on the floor. Tobi and Itachi were leaning on a separate wall. Hidan-senpai was seating on top of one nearby machine.

"Dance what?" Konan repeated. I looked at her, trying not to smile. Masashi put the DDR and the other video games here for a reason maybe? And I am surely going to ask what it is with him and phones.

"Dance Dance Revolution is a video game. I have never played it, but it seems fun." I slowly walked over to the DDR machine. "The gameplay is simple enough. It involves the player moving his or her feet to a set pattern, stepping in time to the general rhythm or beat of a song. The player must step on the corresponding arrows on the dance platform, and is given a judgment for their accuracy." I stamped my foot on the red lighted arrow that points up. The screen scrolled on a series of up-down-up-left-left-right signals.

The music was really amusing. I began singing, "Why do you build me up? Buttercup, baby just to let me down and mess me around and then worst of all, you never call baby when you say you will but I love you still. I need you, more than anyone darling you're all that I have from the start… So build me up, Buttercup don't break my heart…"

I hopped, skipped, and danced my way to an 'Almost' victory. I hopped off the double platform. "See? It's not that hard. By successfully hitting the arrows in time with the music fills the uh—let's call it life bar, while failure to do so drains it. If the life bar is fully depleted during gameplay, the player fails the song, resulting in of course, a game over."

"I didn't know you dance." Hidan commented.

Naruto chuckled, "And what a song! Never heard it before!"

"I didn't know it was a song! I thought it was just something to make you move so you can use this thing." Ino pointed at the DDR.

"Huh. Well, it's just luck. I sang and danced at my school you know. I'm not a freaking gossip school girl." I informed him.

Hidan frowned. "Gassip? What's that?"

I grimaced. "Oh uh nothing. Let's go back to the battle. Sasuke-san? Konan-san?"

Sasuke showed disgust at the object which was a really somber thing while Konan was more than willing to give it a try. "What do you say, Uchiha? Backing down already?"

Sasuke smirked and removed his kunai pouch and tossed it to Naruto." Hn. You wish."

Konan smirked. She opened the buttons on her cloak and passed them to Sakura. I saw her smile at her and whisper something.

"Ooh-kay! I'll be the referee of this one! Three matches people!" Ino piped up.

Sasuke took the left side of the platform and Konan on the right.

"Ready?" Ino hesitated.

Both of the competitors nodded.

"Okay! One! Two! Thr—"

A noise, like a swarm of bees, was heard from above. "Bees?" I asked.

"No," Sakura was staring at the trapdoor, where a voice was carried. "Hey! Anybody down there? We're going in!"

"Lee." Sakura muttered. And sure enough Lee came falling down from above and— Woah. The noise was not bees. It was Shinobi!

Every ninja I know came ramming in the basement. Sai slid over to Naruto. Akamaru barked and Kiba pulled him away to a near corner. Choji, Hinata, and Shino were also here. Damn so many people! I couldn't count 'em off! Some were already leaning on the top of the broken furniture and most were peeking from under the covering cloth on a few of the gaming machines.

"What's going on here?" It was Tenten, closely followed by Neji.

Sakura hesitated. "Uhm…" She looked at Naruto for help.

Naruto, as always, rescued her. But he had this impish grin on his face that I couldn't help to be a little suspicious. And as if by chance, Lee jumped on a broken table up front, holding a microphone. Where have he gotten that? Naruto rushed over to him and together,

"Ah… Moshi moshi? Ah..." His voice came out bleary and Naruto was tapping the microphone and Lee hopped off the table and dunked down under the table. Probably to fix the wiring.

"Uhh. He—" Naruto looked down at Lee.

"What are they up to now?" I ask no one in particular.

Sakura suddenly had an appalled look on her face. "Oh don't tell me!"

But too late. Naruto started off again. "Hey everyone! Uhh. Konnichiwa! You're here to watch an amazing fight, dattebayo!"

There were whispers and loud hoots.

Ino giggled. "Shikamaru-kun?" Shikamaru sighed and murmured something that sounded like, "Women… Troublesome." And she grasped Sakura's arm. "We'll need your amazing strength too!"

Before Sakura could reply, Ino had already dragged her to the DDR machine. Together with Shikamaru, they lifted the huge machine and over to the center where Naruto and Lee were standing while the crowd dispersed to let them through.

I moved closer to Tenten and Neji. "Hey guys, would you care to look at Sasuke back there and verify for me if he's flaring right now?"

I sensed them looking back and pulling a face.

Neji responded first. "No. His face is as blank as ever."

Tenten argued. "No, Neji, can't you feel that aura surrounding him? It's like he's going to kill somebody."

Neji responded by folding his arms and leaning slightly on a video machine. "That's Uchiha. Nothing more to be said."

Tenten just sheepishly smiled at me. "So how's the writing going?"

I looked at my feet. "Fine. I've got a number of readers who are waiting for the upcoming chapters."

"Good. And how's the academy?"

"Academy?" I asked, confused. Then remembered. "Oh! Uh… It's been great. It's a bit stressed because of my chosen career path. And not really used to it."

"Ah don't worry! Being a rookie will pass. Soon you'll be a senior to all that students at your academy." Tenten reassured me.

I shrugged. "Yeah, guess so."

"Uh, hello? We're going to start here." Naruto's blaring voice sounded over even at the back. The shinobi have gathered into a circle by now. "So let's call in the adversaries! Teme! Konan-san, come here already!"

Konan was already rushing towards the crowd. "Hey, Konan-san! Ganbatte ne!"

She turned around and smirked at me.

I sneaked a glimpse at Sasuke back there and clearly, he was in no good mood. His eye was twitching in annoyance.

"Sasuke-san? They're calling for you there." Tenten hollered over to him.

Sasuke sighed and ever so indifferently, slid his hands onto his pockets and pranced to the middle of commotion.

"Okay okay, quiet down guys." Naruto was talking in the microphone and a few silenced, "We're gonna start off with the first round. There are- uh, Niko-chan?"

I sighed. "Uh-huh. Of course they don't know anything. Why does Ino-chan have this lot on her basement if they don't even know how to use it?"

I strolled over and made my way to the horde of people. A few said hello and all of them smiled at me.

Naruto was beaming at me and Lee was grinning. Sakura looked distressed. Ino and Shikamaru were both probably in the crowd too. I almost tripped over the long wire cord that was connecting the DDR to the electrical outlet.

"Yeah?" I wondered to Naruto.

Naruto leaned in. "Uh, you should tell the rules."

"Again?"

He nodded. "But—" And he handed the microphone. I stared at it, and the phone issue popped into my head again. Masashi-san really needs to introduce phones here. Or not?

"Ooo-kay. Hey," Sort of dead-pan. Gosh. "Uh, it's just simple. The game screen shows four different guide directions, which are either, left, right, up, or down. You are judged base on your accuracy, it could be Marvelous, Perfect, Great, Good, Almost: close miss, Boo: complete miss. And your life bar is vital too. It fills when you dance move according to the pattern and empties if you fail to follow the pattern." I looked at the game screen. "Uh, that's just about it. I actually never played this before. But uh, it has music so try to have fun!"

Konan stepped on the right like before and Sasuke took the right. I moved next to the machine and pushed a button. On the screen popped a list of something. I squinted and realized it's a list of songs. I scrolled down and stopped at the song, 'Dancing Queen'. Sasuke Uchiha dancing to _that_ song? Fantastic! This is great! I wish we had a video camera here. I pushed the button again and options popped next, Instrumental or with lyrics. Of course I chose 'with lyrics'. And the music started.

_Ooooooh, oooohh, ooooohh ooh…_

"You're fucking kidding me." Sasuke breathed.

"We're supposed to dance to that?" Konan asked, incredulous.

I raised an eyebrow. "No likey? Or you can't dance?" I taunted.

Sasuke and Konan switch gazes. And they both stamped their foot.

"Okay, get ready guys! Good luck!" I ran off to my last spot, near Tenten and Neji. When I got there, I heard a poof and "Yo."

"Kakashi-taichou." I greeted.

"Ah, Nikohru-chan! What brings you here today?" He asked, lone visible eye closed in a smiling gesture.

"Uh nothing, just visiting."

"Anything the matter with writing?"

"None." I responded.

He put a hand inside his pockets. Putting hands inside your pockets should be illegal! Or better yet, make no more pockets! "You can always ask Jiraiya-sama for advice…"

I put both hands up, "Uh… Hehe. No thanks."

Kakashi looked at me with widened eye. "Or you should! Jiraiya-sama's works were pure masterpieces!"

"Never mind, Kakashi-taichou, Sasuke is fighting with Konan." I stated.

He became serious. "Mmmh?"

"A DDR battle, don't worry."

"A what?"

"Go see for yourself." I pointed to where the battle is taking place. Kakashi rushed it off there.

I stood on my tiptoes and I still can't see.

"Argh, why do I have to be so damn small?" I told myself.

"Well, I could always carry you on my shoulder." Hidan appeared at my side and swept me so suddenly I was in seated on his left shoulder in a blink of an eye.

"Can you see it now?"

"Uh-huh."

* * *

><p><em>Dancing queen, feel the beat of the tambourine…<em>

"_GO SASUKE!"_

"_TAKE HER DOWN, SASUKE!"_

"_SASUKE-KUN! YOU CAN DO IT!"_

Sasuke looks so comical doing something so nonsensical. Konan was flawless. And round 1 ended with Konan getting 'Perfect.'

* * *

><p>Round two…<p>

And Sasuke wins. To the constant cheering from most of the girls and the song, 'Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini', all the while arguing about something with Konan.

"They're wasting energy." Itachi commented the moment Sasuke caught a 'Perfect' too.

"Nah, come on, Itachi, you're no fun. You should be cheering for your brother right now instead of sulking." Tobi chided, he was jumping up and down.

* * *

><p>Round 3 is about to start.<p>

I leaned down, "Hey, Hidan-senpai, can we move closer? I have poor eyesight and this is round three, so…"

"Yeah, sure." Hidan agreed. We made our way through the roaring crowd, with me still balanced on his shoulder. There were already too many spectators, I wondered how the basement accommodated them all.

Music blared from the DDR's speakers.

And…

"Billie Jean? I love this song!" I shouted through shouts and yells of, "Go Sasuke-kuuuun!"

The guide on the screen had already speeded up. Sasuke and Konan were now panting.

"You're not doing it right." Konan pointed out.

Sasuke scoffed. "Shut up."

"Really, you're doing it wrong!" Konan insisted.

Sasuke kept his eyes on the screen but answered back, "Shut up, I am trying to keep my… concentration…" He said between breaths.

"That's not how you do it! I'm gonna win this time, that's so not how you do it." Konan stopped stepping and following the dance guide.

Sasuke angrily whipped his head around to face her, "You just said, it's easy—"

"Look, see those arrows?" She pointed at the screen. "They're going up and down now so you have to do it at the same time!"

_Billie Jean's not my lover, she's just a girl…_

Sasuke continued stepping to the rhythm. "Hn. I'm gonna shoot an arrow at you if you don't shut up." His life bar was slowly decreasing.

Konan turned her nose up in the air. "Oh, use your fire style jutsu, why don't you?"

Sasuke's back stiffened, but he continued moving. He slowly turned to face her again, but since I can only see his back, I just have to guess he's giving her a threatening look.

"You really want that?" His voice was so low I barely heard it. Then he stopped, his arms frantically moving.

Sakura rushed forward, "Sasuke, NO!"

"Fire style! Fireball jutsu!"

Whoosh.

There were screams, yells, gasps, groans, squalls, and the sort. I just found myself back outside, Hidan-senpai covering my head.

"What the fuck—was that?" He panted. "You okay there buddy?"

"Yeah I'm fine. What happened?" I stood up and peered down at Ino's basement, now reeking of burnt wood.

"You idiot!" Slap.

Sakura was whopping Sasuke on the head, and he already has two bumps. He doesn't look too good about it, but he didn't say a word.

"Sasuke! Look at the basement!" Ino yelled at him.

Sakura's face went red from anger. Another whack. "Apologize to Ino, idiot!"

Sasuke rubbed his head and yelled back at her, "Would you stop doing that? It's getting annoying!"

Sakura cracked her knuckles. "Apologize or I swear you're going to be spending your days in the hospital!"

Sasuke grunted, but walked over to Ino. Probably the prospect of having to stare at a hospital ceiling everyday shook him out his apathy.

Naruto chuckled loudly at him.

"Shut up, Dobe."

"Hey, I'm not the one that got whacked by Sakura-chan four times this day." Naruto codded.

"Hn."

He stopped in front of Ino, whose face was scrunched up in affliction for a possible major clean-up of her family's basement for the next few days.

"Yamanaka." He began with utter disdain. He received another whack by Sakura and a chuckle from those watching, including me.

"I am… utterly, maybe, regretting what happened—" Another whack, and this time he stared hard at Sakura, earning a glare from her as well, "I did to your no-good basement. Happy?"

Sakura slapped his arm with such force he swayed a bit. "Good! Say that one more time, a little loudly."

"Hn. I said it once, why do I have to say it again?"

"Because Ino, didn't hear you!"

"Is your friend deaf too?"

Bam.

A famous knockdown punch by Sakura Haruno just given.

"Sakura!" Sasuke gritted his teeth. "I'm in a really bad mood."

"Well so am I!" Sakura retorted scathingly.

Sasuke was clenching his fists so hard his knuckles were white. "Tch. Annoying. If you don't shut up," Sasuke activated his Sharingan.

Sakura kicked him on the shins and sent him flying. "You dare use that to me? You bastard! Shannaro!" And she scarpered after Sasuke, probably to give him a beating.

"Hey, Itachi, aren't you gonna help your brother?" Tobi asked.

"Hn. I cannot help anyway. He deserved it" And with that he started walking away.

People were starting to leave as well, most stayed behind to help Ino, especially Konoha 11.

Konan was looking wasted.

"It'll be okay, we just have to replace the railings and the ceiling…" Lee enounced.

Tenten shrugged. "And just about everything."

Everyone nodded.

Silence.

"So… Who won?" Hidan asked out of the blue.

Nobody answered. It was way too skeptical to be thinking such nonsense.

"Hey, Naruto." Lee hollered.

"Yeah?"

Lee touched his forehead protector. "Let's fight for Sakura's love on that thing sometime."

Naruto chuckled. "Sure, if it's ever gonna be fixed again."

"I wish we had videotaped the whole thing…" I said in despair. It would really be funny to watch Sasuke move like that again.

"Videotaped the battle?" Sai chimed in. "I did. Mostly screenshots of Sasuke dancing though. He looks funny."

Naruto laugh boomingly, and we couldn't help but join as well.

* * *

><p>On the other side,<p>

"SASUKE! STOP HIDING YOU COWARD! SHANNARO!"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note<strong>: And there crappy huh? Haha. Took me so long to finish this… Anyway, please tuned for my upcoming chapters on _Hook, Line, And Sinker! _If you liked this, I could write another one. Review please!


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